Drunk Uncle Harvey and the End of Innocence

Hi Love,

Where do I begin. August 6th, after Sunday dinner, Dad drove himself home and while sitting in front of the T. V., he had a heart attack. He had the where-with-all to have Jon call "911" for an ambulance then call me. Greg and I accompanied him to Kingwood hospital where they admitted him for observation. By the next day, they decided to do a heart catheterization and see what was going on. They found one artery completely blocked, one 80% blocked and another on 70% blocked. The doctor's looked at him and decided that he was strong enough for a triple by-pass surgery.

Unfortunately, Dad's grip on reality began to wane and I thought I'd loose him even if the operation was successful. His nurses asked if he'd been diagnosed with dementia. I said no, but I knew he had difficulty with his short term memory.

In the morning of Wednesday, August 9th, Dad went in for the operation. It was very hard on him and hard on me. His recouperation has been long and hard also. He was in the hospital and rehab at Kingwood rehab center, for 3.5 weeks.

Unfortunately, Houston was visited by a category 5 hurricane I now call my drunk Uncle Harvey. About 1/3 of all households in Houston were affected by flood waters. Because of poor planning, Houston has no way to get rid of flood water that either came as rain, via storm surge, or controlled release of water from the bayous and rivers. This interfered with seeing Dad because... Kingwood was on the other side old 59 and there was no way for me to get to him. Dad was at the rehab center when the hurricane came. I tried to find ways for three days and wasn't able to locate a way.